BackHome
Refresh: OffView Personal Schedule
Session Submission Summary

PREPARE to serve the vulnerable: Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on education in Kenya, Ghana, Malawi, Pakistan and Senegal

Mon, February 20, 2:45 to 4:15pm EST (2:45 to 4:15pm EST), Grand Hyatt Washington, Floor: Constitution Level (3B), Bulfinch

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

The Partnership for Research on Progress and Resilience in Education (PREPARE) is a research consortium convened by the Center for Global Development to study the effects of COVID-19 on education, and ways that education systems can become more resilient in the face of disasters. Research organisations based in several countries - including Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, Malawi, Pakistan, and Bangladesh - are leading policy-relevant, country-specific research that will help answer policy questions as education systems rebuild from the pandemic. In this panel session, four research partners from the PREPARE network will discuss the impacts of the pandemic on education, presenting findings from nationally representative survey data of households and schools.

Most children around the world are back to school following months of closures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The challenges of accessing education remotely were varied, with vulnerable groups experiencing pronounced hardships resulting in higher dropouts and greater loss of learning. The true impacts of these school closures and gaps in education are still being assessed. What are the ways in which the pandemic has threatened equity in education, particularly for those children that are already at risk of getting left behind? How can policies support the recovery of education after emergencies?

From Ghana, researchers from the Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA) will discuss the national School Feeding Programme, presenting findings to support its importance for education and strategies to increase its resilience in hard times. Next, African Population & Health Research Centre (APHRC) researchers will present their evaluation of gender mainstreaming policies across curriculum, teacher training and classroom pedagogy in promoting true gender equity in the Kenyan education system. Partners from the Centre for Educational Research and Training (CERT) in Malawi will describe findings that show that poorer children have had less exposure to education during and after COVID-19 school closures, leading to higher dropouts and repetitions. From Pakistan, Education Champions from the Malala Fund will describe the vast disparities in students’ access to education and related outcomes, across gender, province, type of school and socio-economic status. The presentation will include findings to support policymakers to target remedial action to those students that have suffered the highest losses after school closures. In Senegal, the Centre de Recherche pour le Développement Economique et Social (CRDES) team will focus on how the pandemic has aggravated inequalities in access to education based on household socio-economic status and location.

The PREPARE partners share their reflections on next steps to improve the resilience of education systems across these contexts, especially any common themes or shared solutions. Participants will be invited to discuss the strategies that have best served effective policy change in their countries. They will also discuss their processes for using data and evidence to inform targeted policies to support the most vulnerable, especially during and after emergencies.

Sub Unit

Chair

Individual Presentations